Zambia Army commander Lt. General Paul Mihova, working under the instruction of defence minister Ritchwell Siamunene and President Edgar Lungu has diverted over K989,000 (old currency K989m) which was supposed to be paid to soldiers as dividends for investing in the Army Sports Cooperative Union.

And in a surprising move the soldiers’ contributions to sports have been hiked by about 7 times without any explanations while salaries have remained the same. The move has angered the army personnel who have threatened of ‘unspecified action’ if the money is not paid to them and the increase rescinded.

Some concerned soldiers have told the Watchdog that sports organizations under the flagship of Green buffaloes were created to run as profit making entities and that al soldiers contributed about K50 to K180 per year and that after profits are declared every year they are supposed to get dividends but this year the army commander said the dividends will not be paid but be reinvested.

They said that after scrutiny of the commander’s decision, it was discovered that the money was channeled to the PF campaign funds for this year’s elections after instructions from Siamunene and Lungu.

“We pay about K50 for private soldiers and about K180 to K300 for senior officers but in January we got deductions ranging from K350 to K900 without informing us. And instead of paying us the dividends which were about K989,000 we were told that the money is not enough and will be reinvested. But who gave the army commander permission to think for us? We later discovered that this money has gone to Pf and now we want them to rescind this stupidity or they will tempt us to do ‘unspecified actions’” they warned.